Bio: Huw T.O. Davies, a 1998-99 Commonwealth Fund Harkness Fellow in Health Care Policy, is reader in health care policy and management at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, and associate director of the PharmacoEconomic Research Centre. He was formerly research manager at Tayside Health Board and a research fellow at both Dundee University and South Bank University (London). Dr. Davies' current research interests include performance measurement and management in health care; health outcomes; health care quality (including medical and clinical audit); health technology assessment; and evidence-based policy and practice. He has a long-standing research interest in the epidemiology and management of acute and chronic pain. He has authored or co-authored two books, five edited collections and over 80 papers on health services research, health care quality and research methodology. Dr. Davies earned a degree in mathematics and statistics from Cambridge University, a M.Sc. in operational research from Sussex University, and a Ph.D. in health services research from Dundee University. He has also completed the Postgraduate Certificate in Health Economics at the University of Aberdeen.
Placement: University of California
Mentors: Harold Luft, Ph.D.
Project: How Health Care Providers Use Comparative Data to Monitor and Improve Care
Description: Davies examined similarities and differences in how U.K. and U.S. health care systems use comparative data (including health outcomes) to monitor performance and improve health care quality, with the aim of identifying characteristics associated with successful and unsuccessful programs. He first identified programs measuring health outcomes in California and the U.K., and then conducted interviews with senior managers and front-line clinicians in six California and eight U.K. hospitals on their perception and use of the outcomes data.